Asked by: Aphra Brandreth (Conservative - Chester South and Eddisbury)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether he plans to open the Countryside Stewardship Higher Tier in summer 2025.
Answered by Daniel Zeichner - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Defra announced on 11 December 2024 that the full Countryside Stewardship Higher Tier scheme guidance will be published before applications open in summer 2025.
Asked by: Aphra Brandreth (Conservative - Chester South and Eddisbury)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps her Department is taking to help support people with disabilities into work.
Answered by Alison McGovern - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
Whoever they are and wherever they live, we want individuals to secure appropriate work as we know that work is generally good for health and overall financial well being. We must ensure that disabled people and individuals with health conditions have the opportunity to work. The Keep Britain Working review, is an independent review looking at the role of employers in reducing health-related inactivity and to promote healthy and inclusive workplaces. The lead reviewer, Sir Charlie Mayfield, is expected to bring forward recommendations in Autumn 2025. This review is backed by £240m investment, announced as part of the Get Britain Working White Paper to drive forward approaches to tackling economic inactivity and work toward the long-term ambition of an 80% employment rate.
Disabled people and people with health conditions are a diverse group so access to the right work and health support, in the right place, at the right time, is key. DWP have a range of specialist initiatives to support individuals to stay in work and get back into work, including those that join up employment and health systems. Measures include support from Work Coaches and Disability Employment Advisers in Jobcentres and Access to Work grants, as well as joining up health and employment support around the individual through Employment Advisors in NHS Talking Therapies and Individual Placement and Support in Primary Care and WorkWell.
Asked by: Aphra Brandreth (Conservative - Chester South and Eddisbury)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if she will make an assessment of the potential merits of making the adoption and special guardianship support fund permanent.
Answered by Janet Daby - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
An announcement on funding for the adoption and special guardianship support fund will be made as soon as possible. All future decisions will be considered as part of the next spending review.
Asked by: Aphra Brandreth (Conservative - Chester South and Eddisbury)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, which Finance Bill will contain the proposed changes to (a) Agricultural Property Relief and (b) Business Property Relief.
Answered by James Murray - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)
The Government believes its reforms to agricultural property relief and business property relief from 6 April 2026 get the balance right between supporting farms and businesses, and fixing the public finances.
Legislation implementing this policy will be brought forward in the Finance Bill ahead of the measure taking effect.
Asked by: Aphra Brandreth (Conservative - Chester South and Eddisbury)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, if his Department will make an assessment of the potential merits of standardised access for residents of all local authorities to to Household Waste and Recycling Centres in in Strategic Authorities.
Answered by Mary Creagh - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
There are no plans to standardise access to Household Waste and Recycling Centres. Household Waste and Recycling Centres play an important role in helping people manage the waste they produce in a convenient and sustainable way.
The Environmental Protection Act 1990 section 51 requires waste disposal authorities to provide places at which residents in their areas may deposit their household waste free of charge. Local Authorities are responsible for determining how best to manage and operate sites in their area, taking into consideration their local requirements.
Asked by: Aphra Brandreth (Conservative - Chester South and Eddisbury)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, if he will take steps to ensure that carbon monoxide alarms are properly tested using (a) UK manufactured, (b) safe and (c) industry-approved test gas.
Answered by Justin Madders - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade)
Carbon monoxide alarms should be properly tested before they can be placed on the UK market. British Standard EN 50291-1:2018 outlines the test methods and performance requirements of carbon monoxide alarms used in a domestic setting, and British Standard EN 50291:2:2019 outlines the same for carbon monoxide alarms used in recreational vehicles and similar premises.
The Product Regulation and Metrology Bill, which is going through Parliament at the moment, will provide the powers needed to keep our wide and technical product regulation framework up to date, enabling the UK to maintain its high product standards.
Asked by: Aphra Brandreth (Conservative - Chester South and Eddisbury)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, if he will make an assessment of the effectiveness of UNRWA in removing antisemitic material from school textbooks used in (a) the West Bank and (b) Gaza.
Answered by Hamish Falconer - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
Education is an essential component to the humanitarian response in Gaza, and critical to building the foundations for a sustainable and lasting peace for the Israeli and Palestinian people. It is therefore essential that partners delivering education services across the Occupied Palestinian Territories (OPTs), including United Nations Relief and Work Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA), uphold the highest standards of neutrality. Catherine Colonna's Independent Review of Mechanisms and Procedures to Ensure Adherence by UNRWA to the Humanitarian Principle of Neutrality notes that the most recent UNRWA Rapid Review of textbooks from the Palestinian Authority (2022/2023) "found that 3.85 per cent of all textbook pages contain issues of concern to UN values, guidance, or position on the conflict". The UK supports the Colonna review's conclusion that "the presence of even a small fraction of problematic content in textbooks, supplemental material and teaching content remains a serious issue." We welcome the initiatives launched by UNRWA to ensure neutrality of its educational material and teaching, in addition to its long-standing work with UNESCO and the Palestinian Authority to reform curricula and educational materials. £1 million of UK funding to UNRWA this financial year has been earmarked for the implementation of the Colonna review's recommendations.
Asked by: Aphra Brandreth (Conservative - Chester South and Eddisbury)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, if he will make an estimate of the proportion of international aid that has been misappropriated by terrorist organisations in Gaza.
Answered by Hamish Falconer - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
Aid diversion is an ongoing concern in Gaza, but we welcome reports that more aid is now entering Gaza, and looting has reduced. Israel must now continue to work with partners to ensure law and order is maintained in Gaza so that safe distribution of aid across the Gaza strip is sustained. Most of our aid budget for the Occupied Palestinian Territories is disbursed as funding to trusted partners. The UK conducts thorough due diligence assessments of partners to ensure procedures are in place to manage the risks of aid diversion and to report losses. Programmes are monitored regularly, including through annual and project completion reviews.
Asked by: Aphra Brandreth (Conservative - Chester South and Eddisbury)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps he is taking to ensure that Schedule 3 of the Flood and Water Management Act 2010 is being implemented in full; and what assessment he has made of the adequacy of the UK's drainage and gully systems to deal with increasingly volatile weather.
Answered by Emma Hardy - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
This Government is strongly committed to requiring standardised SuDS in new developments. We believe that this can be achieved through either improving the current planning led approach using powers now available, or commencing Schedule 3 to the FWMA 2010. A final decision on the way forward will be made in the coming months.
The Government has updated the National Planning Policy Framework to encourage a more holistic approach so that developments of all sizes are expected to make use of sustainable drainage techniques where they could have drainage impacts in a way which is proportionate to the nature and scale of the scheme.
This Government recognises the importance of having a robust drainage and wastewater system both now and for future demand.
As part of the Environment Act 2021, water companies in England are required to produce Drainage and Wastewater Management Plans (DWMPs). DWMPs set out how a water company intends to improve their drainage and wastewater systems over the next 25 years, accounting for factors including growing population and changing environmental circumstances. These plans will help sewerage companies to fully assess the capacity of the drainage and wastewater network and develop collaborative solutions to current problems and future issues.
Asked by: Aphra Brandreth (Conservative - Chester South and Eddisbury)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what plans she has for capital investment in (a) rail and (b) road infrastructure in Chester South and Eddisbury constituency to secure economic growth for the cross-border manufacturing cluster.
Answered by Simon Lightwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
Transport is an essential part of our mission to rebuild Britain, and we are absolutely committed to improving rail connectivity across the North and working with local leaders. Our Budget in October 2024 confirmed we are progressing planning and design work to support future delivery of our plans for northern rail connectivity and, following the cancellation of HS2 Phase 2, we are considering how to address capacity and connectivity issues north of Birmingham.
We are also going beyond the government’s promise to fix an additional 1 million potholes per year and providing a £500 million cash increase on 2024-25 local roads maintenance baseline funding, for 2025-26. Chester South and Eddisbury Parliamentary constituency is across two local authority areas, Cheshire West and Chester, and Cheshire East. For 2025-26, Cheshire West and Chester will receive an uplift in highways maintenance funding of £4,084,000 for a total of £15,515,000, and Cheshire East will receive an uplift of £5,546,000 for a total of £21,030,000.
Future funding for capital investment in transport will be determined as part of DfT’s spending review, scheduled for spring 2025. This process will involve assessing national priorities and allocating resources accordingly to address critical infrastructure needs.